Page 20 of Reserved for Him
I had mine on still, so I pointed it in her direction so she could see me. She turned the flashlight off, and the room darkened since mine was the only light.
“I’ll be right back. I promise you are safe.”
“Okay.” Her voice trembled, and I knew I had to move quickly.
I used the light from my phone and went downstairs. I looked out the window, and it looked like one of the powerlines had fallen, so I wasn’t sure when the lights would come back on.
I went into the hall closet to grab my boots and raincoat so I could see what was going on with the generator. After I was prepared, I went out the back door. I located the generator, then messed around with it for a minute until I got it to work.
“Thank goodness,” I whispered. At least we would have some light and heat. I had just got some food from the store, and I would have hated for it to go bad.
Since the generator came on, I walked next door to make sure Junicia’s house was okay. The wind had picked up, and I wanted to ensure it didn’t affect the broken window. That shit still pissed me off because her ex was trash for that. If I could, I would beat his ass again. It was cool, though, because if he hadn’t done that, I would have never talked to her or had her in my bed. Granted, she wasn’t in my bed for anything other than the storm, but still.
Once I saw that her house was fine, I headed back to mine through the backyard.
Some of the lights were on, and it was still warm, so I was pleased with that. I did turn off any unnecessary lights but kept the light over the stove on.
I didn’t want to track water through the house, so I left my boots and coat in the kitchen. I grabbed some water bottles from the fridge and headed upstairs.
The television had come back on, but Junicia wasn’t watching it. It looked like she was sleeping, so I tried to be quiet as I made my way back to the bed and took my pants off before getting in. Since I had worn my pajama pants outside, I couldn’t wear them in the bed.
“Everything okay?” Junicia asked as she rolled over to face me.
“Yes. Sorry if I woke you.”
“You didn’t. I was just resting my eyes. I couldn’t go to sleep.”
I pulled the cover up and faced her with my head resting on my hand. The light from the TV flickered, giving me a view of her beautiful face. She looked stressed, but not as scared as she did earlier.
The urge to kiss her puffy lips was strong, but I wasn’t that bold. I might have seemed tough on the outside to her, but inside, I was nervous to be in the same bed as her. I pictured it multiple times over the last year, but I never thought it would happen.
“As you can tell, the generator is on, but I turned pretty much everything off to conserve energy. I also got you a bottle of water if you get thirsty.”
“Thank you. Should we turn the TV off too?”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I told her, then reached for the remote.
Without the television, the room had gotten dark again.
I lay back on the pillow and stared at the dark ceiling. I felt Junicia shift a little, and she ended up closer to me.
“I’m not too close, am I?”
“Not at all.”
My arm was up on the pillow she occupied, so she scooted closer and put her head under my arm.
We were quiet for a while, with nothing but the sound of the rain beating down on the windows.
“When is this storm going to be over?” Junicia asked as more thunder rumbled.
“Who knows? I didn’t even check the weather earlier to see how long it was predicted to last. We can talk if you want. Maybe it will help take your mind off it.”
“Okay. I have a question. What made you come back here after college?”
I shifted a little to get more comfortable. Being so close to Junicia made my man’s twitch, and I didn’t want her to notice.
“I came back because it was quiet, something I didn’t appreciate as a teenager. I also knew it was a good place to raise a family, and they had an opening for the position I wanted.”
